Luxury brands are embracing the Lunar New Year, and the makers of Italy’s most auspicious pens are joining the fray. A new limited edition feeds the confidence of those born in the Year of the Tiger with self-assured elegance and glistening silver stripes.
Tiger is a small-batch Limited Edition that sees Italy’s oldest writing brand returning to its roots – and the formula behind its very first reservoir pen. Made from sterling silver, 1915’s Reminiscence used lavish ornamentation to kick start a glorious era for Venetian-made fountain pens. Tiger returns to this founding spirit by allowing the manufacture’s master engravers room to showcase their talents. Subtle variations in depth give Tiger a glistening camouflage texture.
The all-over ripple effect on silver is a direct reference to the Water Tiger – the incarnation that will reign over 2022’s Spring Festival. Low-relief engraving is a craft that has been nurtured at Montegrappa for generations, and is just one reason why watch aficionados are among the brand’s many fans. Unlike timepieces, pens allow a tactile relationship to the type of workmanship usually only seen behind sapphire crystal.
Many of the maker’s limited editions rely on fearlessness as a selling point, and Tiger is no different. Besides being crafted entirely from silver, a custom pocket clip uses a playful design by adopting the shape of the tiger’s tail. “One mountain cannot contain two tigers” is a Chinese saying that points to the fierce ambition of those born under its reign. As the pen’s most visible component, clip’s vivid striping projects its owner’s confidence, while serving a gentle warning to would-be rivals.
Diamond-engraved knurling also incorporates mountains into the design, but it is a high-relief rendering on the cap that provides the most remarkable detail. The figure of the watchful tiger surveying the terrain from above symbolizes the animal’s role as a protector against evil. His silhouette is also reproduced in yellow gold on the fountain pen edition’s reference-level, white-gold nib. Issued in a numbered series of only 100 pieces. With the new year arriving on 1 February, aspiring owners will need to pounce to secure one.
#6 size Medium 18k nib with ebonite feed. Piston filling.